Birds Of Prey and the fantabulous emancipation of one Harley Quinn is directed by Cathy Yan and the 8th movie in the DCEU and tells the story of Harley Quinn trying to become more independent as a villain and as a woman after the Joker breaks up with her. After blowing up Ace chemicals to prove she is done with Joker forever she attracts unwanted attention from various people she has wronged including the villainous Roman Sionas AKA Black Mask who wants her dead now that her precious Mr J is out of the picture.
Going into seeing this film, i was a little sceptical and was sure it wasn’t going to be very good as i really liked the trailer but i thought this about the Suicide Squad trailer too and that film fell way below my expectations. To my surprise Birds of Prey wasn’t terrible but another surprise after watching was that i actually prefer Suicide Squad which on my initial screening i hated. Watching Birds of Prey got me thinking about the Harley Quinn story that precedes it and comparing the two they’re both pretty similar. Birds of Prey is a much better film to look at but is much more plot driven rather than character driven. You would think that with her name being in the title it would focus a little more on the characters of Harley Quinn and Birds of Prey. However, suicide squad is and uglier looking film with a darker colour pallette but the film focuses more on the characters that are arguably the best part of Suicide Squad. Birds of Prey has very little character development and has a pretty generic plot. The story involves Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Bassco) stealing a diamond from Black Mask (Ewan Mcgregor) and is caught up in a man hunt from multiple mercenaries wanting to claim the bounty on her head and the Birds of Prey put aside their differences to save Cassandra from Black mask as well as the synopsis i mentioned above.
Like i said the film surprised me as i actually liked it and it changed my mind about suicide squad but overall all the film didnt blow me away. But let’s get the rest of negatives out the way. The film tries its best to be funny but around 60% of the jokes fall flat and are just muddled in with corny dialogue and cliche moments however other than this and a lackluster plot the film has a handful of positive praises. A standout are the performances everyone in this film fits perfectly in to the role Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was awesome, the rest of the Birds of Prey were also great but let’s talk about Ewan Mcgregor as Black Mask he was insane. He was calm but brutal and flamboyant but sinister and just stole the show. Some of the stuff this man did caught me off guard i mean he has someone face peeled off and we actually see it i was not expecting this level of brutality but i loved it. But like most comic book films they kill the villain and it just annoyed me a little as i definitely want to see more from this villian.
The film is also a delight to look at, it’s beautifully directed and at a point i felt like i was watching a moving comic book just from the colour palette alone.The fight scenes were choreographed really well and were the most entertaining part to watch in the film by far they had this over the top feel to them but not too OTT to make it seem cartoonish and unrealistic.
I know this is a short review but there isn’t a lot to to talk about its just a fun film that should entertain people who are familiar with these characters but people who are not there isn’t much here for you.
Final Score.
Title:Okay
In conclusion Birds of Prey is a solid entry in the DCEU who recently is having a winning streak with their movies after getting off to a rough start with critics in the earlier days. Birds of prey delivers a fun and violent if not sometimes a little bit too much by the books, comic book movie which is full of easter eggs and like most comic movies i will rewatch it to see what i can find just maybe not as much as other movies in the genre. But overall may not be a fantabulous time but entertained me enough to the point where i wasn’t disappointed.
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